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Sunday, February 27, 2011

I have a friend. She designed her house, from top to bottom. Every single thing - from faucets, to fixtures, to built-ins, moldings, and flooring - was mulled over for months upon months...but it was all worth it. It's something out of a magazine! She asked me if I could make little labels to help keep her pantry organized. Something cream and black, with a Parisian flair. I hope I hit the mark! Her pantry is impeccable... mine is not, lol. So that's why you're only getting to see one of the labels tied around my tea jar...

Here's a shot of all of them together. I die-cut the mat-stack II shape in black card-stock and stamped the frame image from the coordinating set on it (you can't see it in any of these photos - boo!) I printed the titles onto cream card-stock and punched them out with my 1.75" circle punch. I then stamped the same frame image over top. An eyelet in each corner finished it off, so they could be strung up in her pantry.

Friday, February 25, 2011

The challenge is to use scallops - however & wherever, on whatever we want. Challenge accepted.

I cut a circle into my scallop-squares to feature the sweet scrapbook papers underneath. Turned them into cute little frames. Can you tell that they are popped up with some foam tape?

I love the row of tiny mushrooms at the bottom (from "way to go, kiddo!"). A miniature office clip on the side, and a banner (stamped first with an image from the "Mat Stack 2" set and then the sentiment from the same set over top) make this card a pretty celebration of new life.

And just in time to be able to give this to a verrrrrry patient mommy-to-be! C'mon out, new little gingerbread!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

No dramatic back-story here, and I don't have the faintest idea who I would send this card to, but I love the idea of it. All of those empty birdcages, and the one little lonely bird... I highlighted him with an epoxy bubble and then stapled a strip of stamped sheet music to the bottom. Such a quick card - probably took under 10 minutes to whip up, clean-up included :) Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I think I'm stuck on this blue and peach color-scheme. So sweet and fresh! I need a little spring in my life right about now. Anyone else feeling a bit of the winter blahs? I can't wait to slip on a pair of old flip-flops and walk the kids to the park... and not come home 'til supper-time. Le sigh.

I liked the card so much that I made a set. Will probably be boxed up for a gift at some point. It all came together so quickly! Same layout, colors, and die-cuts. The only thing different from card to card is the stamped background on the little white notebook paper. Just to keep it interesting... for me :)

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Happy 8th anniversary to my main man! I woke up this morning to a beautiful bouquet of white roses, and this:

I asked him to make me a card for valentine's day, but apparently he threw away his creation because it looked "worse than something Thomas would have made." But he tried again! What a sweetheart. He told me this took him an hour - I think his exact words were: "you have too many stamps - there are too many choices" - ha! I totally appreciate his time and efforts - that's romance, people....

And then, I was greeted with this on our white-board:

Apparently, I don't have to cook at all today. Now that's a great gift for a stay-at-home-mom! He made hash-browns and eggs for breakfast, along with my coffee and a fruit platter. The kids and I were thrilled :)

I'm hoping I get more for supper than just a chicken marinade (the actual marinated chicken would be nice) and I'm a little nervous about his salad dressing (because there is nothing marked pomegranate or acai berry in my fridge right now) but how cute. This is just the beginning, he says.

When the hubs woke up, this is what he found from me - I formatted 8 pics of the two of us from the last 8 years to look like polaroids so I could add a little note to the bottom of each one. Nothing too fancy, but you can't use bows and glitter on man-cards, right? Keep it simple, add some hardware, and they're happy.

Monday, February 21, 2011

A new Make it Monday over at PTI - this week's challenge is to add glitter strips with scor tape. All I have to say is see? this totally proves I'm not a procrastinator *nods emphatically to prove point*

I've seen this technique before and always thought it was cute, but never tried it. Now that I have, I'm probably going to start adding glitter strips to every card from now on. No joke. Glitter has a way of taking a gloomy day and making it 'wow' - ha.

The background was created with "text style II" - except for a strip I left blank, where I then added my sentiment. I used different-sized strips of scor tape and glitter to frame said sentiment. I stamped "yotf: marigold" onto a scrap of SU designer paper, snipped it out, and added some rhinestones on the other side to balance things out.

No cards today - I took a few minutes to whip up some hair accessories for the girls. Maia's my un-willing model, just because Sofia is at school. Man, I'm pretty sure it took longer to get the shots than make 'em. Is there an infant-version of ADHD? Because I'd like to put a label on whatever Maia has that makes it virtually impossible for her to sit still. Ever.

But those eyes...adorable, no? I stitched 4 white, die-cut-felt flowers together and sweetened it up with a red felt rosette in the middle. Can you see the green leaves sticking out near the bottom? Like I said, hard to get any in-focus shot :)

Here's the second, an alligator clip that I covered with a handmade yo-yo flower and a miscellaneous button from my stash. What a little sweetie (the clip and the baby).

Saturday, February 19, 2011

It's Saturday morning, so early that the rest of the house is still sleeping... ahhhh - peace and quiet is so underrated when you have little kids, lol! I apologize for how gloomy my lighting came out in the picture - in real life, this card is so stinkin' cheerful! The polka-dot clouds, the pink and yellow "sun" and those birds - I don't think I've seen an ugly card made with those cute birds. It's fool-proof. Happy weekend, all!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Yeah, I know my last entry had red roses on it, and the same leafy image. What can I say? I'm pretty lazy, I guess. The stamp set stayed out on my desk, and I already had the rose all colored and cut out... this card took all of 5 minutes to piece together. Tomorrow, I promise something that has no red in it at all. Complete departure. If you care to know, the leaf image is from PTI's "turning a new leaf" - the rest is SU: "fifth avenue floral" and "heard from the heart." Hope you like it!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

This card is for PTI's 2nd make-it-monday where we had to stamp our sentiment onto a vellum strip. I chose a vellum square... should've just stuck with the strip. You know how you could have a great idea in your head, but then the execution goes horribly awry? This card took on a life of its own, somewhere between where I had to add a 2nd felt rosette (and when you HAVE to add things, it's because there's something ugly underneath, right?) and spraying that scalloped frame with glimmer mist (I have glimmer in places where glimmer should not be found). I don't mind it, but I just have no idea who dreamed this one up, lol. Let me know what you think!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Remember when I made Sofia's v-day card a few days ago? To her specifications? Yeah, well, I changed my mind :) Thomas asked for a pirate valentine's day card and I liked how his card turned out so much that I created a new one for my princess.

To make this fuss-proof, I used the same dies, the same layout and stamp sets - I just changed the colors (since maybe melon, daffodil and baja breeze wouldn't cut it for my little boy!) Like the plaid backgrounds? Made them me-self. *curtsies*

I used to love when my parents would give us presents for every major holiday. For Easter, it was a humongous basket, filled with stuffies and chocolates. Our Christmas stockings were filled to overflowing. For Valentine's, we usually got one of those crazy-large-chocolate-bunnies. You know the ones I mean, right? The ones that you struggle to bite off a chunk because they're so thick. No wonder I needed years of dental work - ha! I want to create that same magic for my littles. Sprinklings of excitement and celebration on these special days of the year. I bought them some small toys, stuffies, and a few chocolates - but I didn't want to just throw them into a gift bag. The kids (and when I say the kids, I obviously mean the older two - I mean, what does a 9-month-old know about anything? lol) each decorated a brown paper bag. We used our scalloped-edge punch at the top, pressed-down hand-print hearts and used up extra Christmas scrapbook paper for the hearts. Oh, and the, er, kids (yeah, that's right) used puffy paint to write their names. You heard me. The kids wrote their own names. LOL.

They're so cute together. Oh, and by the way, Thomas is blowing you a super-awkward Valentine's day kiss. Because I asked him to.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

My sweetheart and I love Chinese takeout. LOVE. But since we're trying to lose the last of our pregnancy pounds (yes, him too! lol) we're avoiding our beloved "general tao chicken" like the plague... mmm... ahem. Back to the paper-goodness - no calories here! I made a little Chinese takeout box and stamped an all-over pattern it (PTI's "text style II"). Then I stamped a cute tree (PTI's "way to go, kiddo"), snipped it out and glued that sucker down. Next, I re-stamped the tree onto some green paper, cut out the little tree-tops and stuck them down with some 3-D foam pads. Gives it a bit of dimension. And the little "fortune cookies"? Too cute, right? Beyond easy. A 3.5" circle gets folded over (without creasing, though - think like a taco) and then folded over the other way. Slowly. Take my word for it - I tore a few "cookies" before I got it right. Here's a closer look at those fortune cookies.

ps - My man walked in and out of the house at least 3 times before he noticed the card taped to the front door from yesterday. Love him! I think he only clued in because I kept smirking at 'im. It should come as no surprise that I suck at poker.

Friday, February 11, 2011

For my sweetheart to feel loved, appreciated, and cherished - as much as when we were first married. Three kids and almost 8 years later, we're still best friends, but sometimes the romance gets shoved to the side - you know what I mean? How romantic is it to hear a little voice yell: "I'm dooooOOOOnnnnnneeeeee!" from the bathroom, right? lol. So, the first step is a love-card a day. I taped the first one to the door, so he could see it when he came home from work. He opened the door with his cell-phone attached to his ear, smiled a hello and went down to the basement to finish up his meeting. This is fun - let's see how long it takes for him to notice. Wanna see the card? Like you have a choice.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Since the first 2 posts have been love-related, let's continue the V-day theme, shall we? The kids were with me when I made my card for the hubs the other day (doing their own crafts, or "craps" as Thomas likes to call it! That kid has the most adorable baby-speak...) so they requested that I make them each a special card for Valentine's day. What can I say? They are as much my loves as the hubs is - little pieces of us, walking and talking reminders of how much I love my sweetheart. (Cue the violins.) So anyways, Sofia asked me to use the little girl image from SU's "greeting card kids" set. Perfect for my pint-sized valentine :) I added a sliced-in-half doily I found in Walmart's baking section - why not, right? I've been seeing doilies on other card-making blogs. Trying to be trendy, here, people :) Stay tuned for Thomas' card - he picked a pirate image, lol! Arrrrrrrr, me hearties!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

I set the kids loose on a pile of scrapbook papers and heart punches... a quick trip through the sewing machine gave us instant valentine's day decor. But honestly, this little afterthought of vertically-strung hearts is my favorite. Every time I walk by, the air makes it spin 'round. And my fingers also make it spin. Whimsical and fun.

ps - the carnations are slowly dying, I know. But fresh flowers are so beautiful. I'm not throwing these out until *someone* provides a replacement. (Note to self: sweetly ask the hubs to follow this blog).

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

I'm in lurve. With stamping. If you didn't already know that - it's nice to meet you. My new love is for PTI (papertrey ink). Their style is cutesy and clean and fresh. Perfection. And to celebrate their 4th anniversary, there have been contests galore... and prizes... so many prizes. This card is for their first-ever "make it monday" challenge: to take sentiments from different sets and graphically pile them onto 1 card. It's almost V-day, right? Another love? Killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

I have been talking about blogging and plotting a blog for a few months now - but really, does the web need one more mommy/crafty blogger? Whatev. I must be heard. I must take the time to celebrate the little joys, and show off my efforts to decorate my life. Anyone else a stay-at-home-mom to little ones? Sometimes I need a little reminding that my life is more than wiping snots. Can I get a fist-pump? And away we go...